On July 10th some 1100 people converged on the Grosvenor House Hotel in London for the annual Motor Trader Awards and Mann Island Finance were proud to be amongst the sponsors championing best practice in the industry. It was a great evening enjoyed by all, but inevitably, such an event begs the question;
Does winning an award matter?
Naturally, as a sponsor we believe there is a value; our involvement is about being seen as committed and engaged with the industry in which we work and in our case as social media sponsor being committed to the continuing digitisation of the motor retail sector. We want to encourage best practice and innovative thinking. But how do we see it working for the entrants or potential entrants?
The most natural point is prestige – for me, this is not the priority, but it is often seen as important to gain such recognition. As a nuance to this point, winning an award is great for brand awareness and can be viewed as an endorsement or stamp of credibility.
One caveat I will bring in is that . Our involvement with the Motor Trader Awards reflects their status in our industry; they have a rigorous judging approach and as such, they are credible. This is the type of award people should want to win.
Caveat over; here is why award success matters:
1. Award success creates, supports and underlies a high performance, success-focused culture – this can encourage team members to make that extra effort to seek out improvements and go that extra step for a customer
2. They can help keep an organisation grounded – now this may seem like an odd one, but businesses can often operate in a bubble, entering an award is an excellent way of benchmarking how good is good! Entering an award can help sharpen focus around performance and results metrics.
3. It rewards the broader stakeholder team
- People want to be part of a successful organisation and such success can help a business to recruit and retain the very best talent. It is an approach that can help underwrite future success.
- It can be re-affirming to clients and potential clients – authentic award success creates customer confidence and helps to add trust. This is true for B2B and B2C businesses.
- Investors and supporters will be encouraged to invest and support an organisation with a winning mentality and track-record.
- In the UK motor industry success can be shared by other associated business and suppliers. Manufacturers love to share the successes of their dealers and the ‘halo-effect’ it may offer. This is especially true for joint award successes, which can undoubtedly help such relationships.
4. Award success equals great content – the third-party advocacy of an award success provides a compelling story that can be told continuously over an extended timeframe.
5. Finally, inspiration – win or not, an award and the application process can help drive a business on to be better.
So, yes, award success matters and so does the process of considering and entering an award. The time to reflect can be both uncomfortable and useful and it is why I favour the authenticity of a third-party helping to create an award submission. Someone outside of the day-to-day operation can help craft a better entry, providing valuable consultancy insight to ensure an organisation can look the very best it can be and/or highlight gaps the business may be overlooking. It is why it is not just winning awards that matters; entering them does as well.